Monday, 26 December 2016

Santa was very generous this year as I got a few gaming related pressies under the Christmas tree! The Days Gone Bye expansion for Walking Dead All Out War will go nicely with the core game and Prelude to Woodbury that I recently picked up. I'm also looking forward to playing both Betrayal at House on the Hill and Eldritch Horror as I've heard a lot of good things about them. I hope Santa was just as generous with all of you!

Friday, 23 December 2016

I shan't be doing any wargaming over the holidays but I will be playing plenty of family games...from Ticket to Ride and Small World to Odin's Ravens, Hand of the King and Exploding Kittens! I hope you all manage to get some games in, too!

Sunday, 18 December 2016

I got my latest lot of figs back from Matt a couple of days ago. A bit of a mixed bag this time but again mainly from the Artizan Thrilling Tales range for our Pulp Alley games.

A couple of bad guys!

Sky Pirates!

Renegade Legionnaires!

Some French colonial troops!

Matt has, as always, done a superb job on these...I especially love the contrast between the drab khakis and the vibrant blue on the renegade Legionnaires. I shall look forward to putting some more Pulp Alley Leagues together using these chaps!

Thursday, 15 December 2016

I started reading The Walking Dead comics not long after my son was born in 2006 and have been hooked ever since. I'm also a fan of the TV show. So when I recently saw posts about the game on both the Battleshed Diaries blog and Daxio's Uneventful Day blog I made the mistake of doing a bit more digging online. Today both my order for the Core Game and the Prelude to Woodbury Solo Starter arrived...and very nice they look, too.

The Core Game is very reasonably priced and has everything you need for two players to start straight out of the box...minis, paper mat and card scenery as well as all the necessary cards and accessories.

The Prelude to Woodbury is a standalone starter set which is also playable straight out of the box. The reason I picked this up is it also includes solo rules and a solo deck...as well as more minis and card scenery.

The postie also brought my long-awaited copy of Rogue Stars along with the minis I ordered. The figs look great and I can't wait to send them off to Matt so he can work his magic.

I've had a quick skim through the book and it certainly looks very pretty but I'm looking forward to having a proper read later. I'm especially interested in the Squad Creation rules.

Sunday, 11 December 2016

A game that has been seeing a lot of play in our house recently is A Game of Thrones Hand of the King from Fantasy Flight Games. A game only takes around fifteen or so minutes but it is surprisingly tactical and a whole lot of fun.

Fantasy Flight can do a better job of explaining so here's their blurb:

Hand of the King is a fast-paced card game of conspiracies and sudden twists of fate for two to four players, challenging each of you to gain the most support among the twisted intrigues of the King’s Landing court. Each turn, you’ll send Varys to do your bidding, moving through the court and inciting iconic characters from A Song of Ice and Fire to support your cause. With the help of some companions and crafty alliances with other players, you just might rise to become the king’s new Hand!

At the beginning of a game of Hand of the King, the court of King’s Landing is laid out before you and the other players. Thirty-six cards—thirty-five characters from the Great Houses of Westeros and Varys—are laid out in a six-by-six square. To become the Hand of the King, you’ll need to gain the support of the most Great Houses, but doing this will hardly be easy.

Each turn, you will move the Varys card, choosing a direction and one of the Great Houses. You may move Varys as far as you like in your chosen direction, but you must end your movement on top of a card belonging to the Great House that you named. Then, you claim the card that you landed on, as well as all other cards from the same House that you passed over along the way.

For example, you may choose to move Varys to the left, naming House Stark, as shown above. You end your movement on Eddard Stark, and you also claim Bran Stark, because you passed over him on your way to Eddard!

Claiming these characters is the primary way that you’ll gain the support of the Great Houses. As soon as you claim at least as many characters from a certain House as your opponents, you immediately take that House’s banner. Whichever player has the most banners under his control at the end of the game is chosen as the king’s new Hand.

Of course, each of these Houses has a different number of characters, making it easier or harder to secure their influence as the game goes on. As an added bonus, when a House’s final character card is removed from the King’s Landing court, you can call upon one of the six companions that are laid out at the beginning of the game. These companions offer powerful effects that can quickly swing the game in your favor, whether you use Sandor Clegane to choose and kill any character or Khal Drogo to pull Daenerys Targaryen to your side from anywhere on the board. You’ll find fourteen different companions in Hand of the King, and since you only see six in any game, you’ll find new ways to interact with the court in every game.

It’s immediately apparent that your opponent’s actions will greatly influence your own turns in Hand of the King. You can’t simply choose exactly which characters you want—you’re limited by the position of Varys in the court, which depends on where your opponents have moved him. This doesn’t need to be a handicap, though. In fact, it could be an opportunity. By forging clever alliances with your opponents, you can end up with some mutually beneficial arrangements—just make sure you know when to break those alliances for your own benefit!

The king may sit upon the Iron Throne, but in many cases, the Hand of the King is real power in the realm. Convince Varys to support your schemes, and gather the Great Houses of Westeros: only one can become the Hand of the King!

I've played this with my wife, who is a big fan of the TV show and gets the theme, as well as my son, who has never heard of Game of Thrones...unsurprisingly as he's a bit young yet at the tender age of ten...and they both love it. The perfect holiday game or filler...and also, as in my case, game that you can fit in between school and the various kids' clubs and activities...or something that's not too demanding of your time and effort after you've finally got the little monsters in bed!

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Henri Chevalier is a disgraced French archaeologist and treasure hunter with a particular interest in the occult. It is this interest in the occult as well as his ruthlessness in dealing with anything...or anyone...who stands in his way that has led to his being called Le Chevalier Noir. Working with the fledgling Ahnenerbe, he scours the world for ancient artifacts and sacred objects in order to learn the secrets of the ancients.

Leader

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Henri Luc Chevalier

d10

2d10

3d10

3d8

2d8

3d10

4d10

Blaggard (4) – Action:
Target one downed enemy in base-to-base contact and draw a random
challenge. If successful, the enemy is immediately removed from
play.

Clever (1) – Add
+1d to your Cunning (included above).

Scoundrel (4) – Once per turn,
when you knock an enemy down or out in a brawl, you immediately take
control of one random plot point carried by that enemy.

Sidekick

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Nazim

d8

3d6

3d8

3d8

2d6

3d6

2d8

Savvy (1) – Add +1d to your
Finesse (included above).

Sharp (1) – Once per turn, you
may re-roll one Shoot or Finesse die.

Allies

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Hans & Gunter

d6

2d6

2d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

Burst Fire (2) – Action:
Place a 3” burst within 12” and line-of-sight.

Followers

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Berber Tribesmen x2

d6

1d6

2d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

Marksman (1) – Add +1d to your
Shoot (included above).

League Perks

Well- Armed (1) – see p.7 Pulp Leagues

Hopefully we shall get another game of Pulp Alley in soon...though we seem to be playing mainly boardgames at the moment!

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Another league for our Pulp Alley games...this time moving the action from the late nineteenth century to the 1930s!

Established shortly after the end of the Great War, Section O is a secret department within the British Secret Intelligence Service dedicated to protecting the British Empire from all things Occult, Paranormal and Supernatural. Major Edmund T. Stone runs the Cairo Office along with the eminent explorer, archaeologist and expert in the occult, Doctor Henry Abbott.

Leader

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Maj. Edmund T. Stone

d10

3d8

3d10

2d10

2d8

3d10

3d10

Burst Fire (2) – Action:
Place a 3” burst within 12” and line-of-sight.

Danger Sense (4) – You
automatically pass the first
peril you encounter each turn.

Inspiring (4) – Once per turn,
one colleague within 12” of you gains a +1d bonus for one
challenge.

Sidekick

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Henry Abbott

d8

3d6

3d8

2d8

2d6

2d6

3d8

Daredevil (2) – Once per turn,
you receive a +1d bonus when rolling for a peril.

Shrewd (3) – Your Dodge and
Cunning dice are not lowered due to injuries.

Ally

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Sgt. Angus McLean

d6

2d6

3d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

Marksman (1) – Add +1d to your
Shoot (included above).

Ally

Health

Brawl

Shoot

Dodge

Might

Finesse

Cunning

Cpl. Harry Stokes

d6

2d6

2d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

1d6

Burst Fire (2) – Action:
Place a 3” burst within 12” and line-of-sight.

Tuesday, 22 November 2016

Good news! Gale Force 9 have just released some new terrain pieces for their Badlands range as well as re-releasing a couple of the old ones.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the older Bluff and Plateau a while back but they have been...up until now...very hard pieces to get hold of! The smaller new Tors and Pillars are just what I need to bring them all together on the table. So this really is great news.

Monday, 21 November 2016

Along with the three African Princesses that I posted up here last week, I also got some Artizan Thrilling Tales figs back from the talented Mr Slade this month...all intended for our Pulp Alley games.

First up, some good guys...

Next up, some bad guys...

Finally, some Afrika Korps...who could be on either side....

As always, Matt has done a lovely job. I hope to put a couple of Pulp Alley Leagues together using these figs sometime over the next week or so and shall post them up as soon as I do.

Next month Matt will be doing some more Artizan Thrilling Tales figs for me to add to the growing collection.

Wednesday, 16 November 2016

I got my latest lot of miniatures back from Matt of Glenbrook Games today. Most of them are Artizan Thrilling Tales figs for our Pulp Alley games (which I'll be showing off later). These three lovely ladies, however, are Copplestone African Princesses for our Lost World and Congo games.

Monday, 7 November 2016

Antediluvian Miniatures have just released here a set of Saxon Dwarves. These really are fantastic figures!

Now I have to say that normally I prefer my fantasy and sci-fi to be pretty human-centric...more Game of Thrones and Firefly than Lord of the Rings and Star Wars...with any strange beasts or creatures reserved for the role of blasphemous monster or twisted thing of evil!

That said I'm a big Tolkien fan and have always had a bit of soft spot for Dwarves...

...so one order later and I'm thinking these lovely figures will fit in very nicely in my Dragon Rampant Northern Tribes warband!